PRAISE FOR CHIN CHIN

She is also a very good science student, bringing to her work a clear brain, and an unshakable determination to succeed.

She contributed very well to the general life of the school as a leader in the Catholic Society. She is a very good mixer because she is interested in people and has a very friendly, outgoing disposition. She is healthy and active in games. In school she played badminton, netball and hockey.

We recommend her enthusiastically as a young lady who is likely to do very well in higher studies and make an outstanding contribution to society in her career.

- from the Brother Director

CHURCH YOUTH GROUP

During her Form Six Chin Chin would come riding her motorbike for morning mass at the Chuch of Our Mother of Perpetual Help in Ipoh Garden every morning. She became an active member in the church youth group and prepared children for the procession on the parish feast day.

PHCC

Trained as a television producer in Kuang Chi, Korea, Chin would return to Ipoh on weekends and work doing TV productions with the Perpetual Help Communication Centre, PHCC of which she was a founder member.

NOHD

She became very actively involved in training the youth with YCW, the Young Christian Workers, and in training programmes on social issues. This movement was founded by Joseph Cardijn in 1925 around the methodology of ‘See, Judge, Act.” The NOHD building is called Cardijn House. As Christians they were called to look at reality through the eyes of Jesus, judge based on the Gospel values and act on the principles of social justice for integral human development.

FORMAL TRAINING

• Asian Theatre Form, an international workshop on theatre arts | Tokyo, Japan | Aug - Sep 1983

• Training for Trainers in Theatre Arts | Seremban, Malaysia | Aug 1981

• Basic Human Relations Trainer Development Program | Quezon City, Philippines | Mar - Apr 1979

• Approaches to Human Development | Manila, Philippines | Jun - Jul 1978

• Appreciation and Use of the Mass Media | Calcutta, India | May - Jun 1976

• Production of Sound Slide Montages | Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia | 1975

THESIS

For her Masters degree she prepared her thesis spending time with the people in the plantation sector comprising the economic, political and socio-cultural context of Malaysia and came up with a descriptive study of the community organisation process of the Koperasi Kredit Rakyat Berhad, in Batang Berjuntai, Selangor, Malaysia.

INVOLVEMENT

When Chin returned to Malaysia, she was well equipped and highly motivated to put her principles to action.

As the national coordinator of Young Christian Workers (YCW), Chin moved around different parishes training young people in 1969. Unfortunately, without full support of the clergy the movement began to decline.

Chin had a passion for equality and justice for women. She was with Women’s Development Collective (WDC) responsible for capacity building and training projects related to sexual harassment, rape, child sexual abuse and women in leadership. It was instrumental in forming a Joint Action Group against Violence Against Women which highlighted the lack of legal and social protections for women. This was a stepping stone in the formation of the All Women’s Action Society (AWAM).

AWAM aims to create a society where all persons, particularly women, are treated equally. This includes advocating for policy changes to ensure women's rights and gender equality. Empowering women, facilitating social transformations, and supporting women facing crisis situations are other objectives of the organization. Chin Chin was involved in all of this as a founder member of AWAM.

She was a founder member of the Society for Christian Reflection (SCR). She was an active founder member also of Aliran. She also worked with the Council of Churches Malaysia (CCM).

When I tell people that Chin Chin was arrested under the ISA, their immediate response is “Oh, what did she do?” In their mind they think she must have committed a crime to be arrested by the police. Most Malaysians don’t know of Operation Lalang or have a short memory regarding socio-political issues in the country.
- Dave Anthony

The press and the radio and TV channels were full of news raising racial and religious issues creating tension without offering clear substantial reasons by anyone on what had contributed to the tension. When the IGP was asked on what charges were the people arrested all he could say was that they were investigating. It was ‘arrest first and find fault later.’ He said he will give the reasons later. The ISA is detention without trial. 

People were perplexed on what this national disaster was.  The Inspector General of Police said the situation was tense and they had to act to prevent chaos, taking full responsibility for the action declaring that it was not politically motivated.

The press reported quoting all and sundry political leaders pouring accolades on Mahathir  for his quick action to defuse the tension. What tension?? Leaders who we thought to have had some calibre of leadership all bowed down to worship the leader of power. East Malaysian leaders like Pairin Kittingan, MCA, MIC, Gerakan and other party leaders, all were full of praises for Mahathir. Anwar Ibrahim, then the Minister of Education praised Mahathir for acting decisively at the right moment to save the country from chaos. What chaos?

Mahathir explained in parliament that the DAP was responsible for stirring up racial issues. In fact, it was the MCA, the component party of Barisan Nasional that was dissatisfied with the appointment of principals in Chinese schools who were not proficient in Mandarin. There were several other issues which the media did not elaborate on. Mahathir praised the police for their action as if he had nothing to do with it.

In a two-part documentary on “Operation Lalang,” as it was called. many prominent people were interviewed to find out what was the real issue masqueraded as a threat to national security. Fan Yew Teng, formally with DAP, Gurmit Singh of the Environmental Protection Society, Tan Kah Keng on the Rare Earth Radioactive concerns, Subki Latif of PAS, Chandra Muzafar of Aliran, Fr. Gauthier from the Office for Human Development and others began to elaborate on the real causes for the crack down. Later more evidence emerged from the foreign press in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Jakarta, Japan and Australia.

The interviewees all corroborated that the mass arrests were not a mere police action but a concocted, coordinated political action to save not the insecurity of the country but the insecurity of Mahathir himself. The police come under the Home Ministry and the Home Minister was Mahathir and he was the one who signed all the detention papers even before Operation Lalang was launched. Mahathir was the sole master operative of Operation Lalang.

There were protests from the environmental groups, language groups, the plight of the indigenous groups of East Malaysia, the channelling of funds to UMNO owned developer to construct the North-South Highway etc…etc… which were all used as pretexts for his action.

The main issue was conflict within UMNO in the contest for leadership. Mahathir was challenged by Tengku Razaleigh Hamzah. UMNO was split into Team A and Team B. In the leadership contest Mahathir narrowly won by 1%.

Mahathir was losing his grip on UMNO. The UMNO youth led by Najib wanted Mahathir’s resignation for not taking firm action against Lee Kim Sai the MCA President. They planned a mammoth rally while 11 Umno members initiated a civil action to declare the Party election null and void. If the 11 were to withdraw their suit then a compromise would be reached to allow Tengku Razaleigh and his supports into government. However, the High Court dismissed the suit by the UMNO 11. The court also ruled that the UMNO General Assembly was a nullity. The High Court decision amounted to declaring UMNO an illegal Society. But the position of the PM and his cabinet was not affected because the government was elected by the people and not the Party, so construed.

 Mahathir’s popularity had dipped, his position precarious. This was simmering since April of 1987. He had to orchestrate a crisis on a national scale to save his own security. He planned and executed ‘Operation Lalang,’ using the dreaded Internal Security Act, the ISA.

What better scenario to put before the people than the dreaded memory of the May 13th 1969 racial riots. He hyped a racial and religious tension in the country blaming the Chinese who would destroy the Malays. That spark would be enough to ignite a conflagration. He presented himself as the hero who defused that tension and everyone hailed him as the saviour. He saved his own skin.

Mahathir had no Party, so he cleverly changed the name and retained the substance of the old party by registering the new party as UMNO BARU. 

Tengku Razaleigh and his followers split to form another party called SEMANGAT 46.

Semangat 46 did a lot of campaigning and the main media outlets were controlled by UMNO. Videcom, a private production house, was approached to do all his media coverage in different parts of the country.

Tunku Abdul Rahman, the first Malaysian Prime Minister was the only dissenting voice condemning Mahathir’s action. The ISA was initiated by the Tunku himself but he said it was meant to be used only against the Communist terrorists and not against civilians.

A lot can be said about Chin Chin’s  detention and travails and the farcical habeas corpus court hearings. 18 years after her release Chin Chin wrote her reflection on her arrest and detention, on 46 pages type written on A4 paper. All this for a later publication.

A short statement she made on 3rd December 1988, the year of her release can be read here.

LITURGY

The following are excerpts of the Liturgy conducted as part of Chin Chin's Celebration of Life

Dear Dave, Daniel and Joel, thank you for sharing Chin's life with us. We are truly blessed to be her friend and she will always remain a part of me/us. Take good care and I hope we can be in touch once in a regular while. God Bless Always.
- Cecilia Ng

She was struck with a devastating blow when she was detained under the ISA in Operation Lalang perpetrated by a megalomaniac. She was tortured with solitary confinement and her detention was extended to seven months in Kamunting.

After she was released, she put her life back together, studying IT and went into the corporate sector and brilliantly rose up the ladder working in KLSC, Ericsson, Hewlet Paccard, Vads while continuing her social activism. 

We got married and raised a family with two sons Daniel and Joel of whom she was immensely proud. She was a beautiful wife and an excellent mother. She set very high standards for the family.

Chin became afflicted with a number of extremely rare and incurable ailments.

Neuromyotonia and Myastenia Gravis affected her nerves and muscles. The muscles in her body were constantly twitching. She had Lupus or SLE and Diabetes. She had lost one eye with extremely low vision in the other. She became a constant visitor to the hospital which she referred to as her second home. Despite her disabilities she did the housekeeping and the household chores which we took for granted. Now we realize regrettably and appreciate her contribution to the family.

When she became very sick, we took her to the emergency on the 25th of last month and she was admitted. As the doctors were trying to determine the cause of her illness she said to me, “Dave, I am dying.” I said to her “Chin, think of living.” But, she knew better.

Her life became a painful journey. She was no longer her vibrant self. She did not complain. She lived a simple life and touched the hearts of countless people who came to know her. The tremendous boost in her life was to be able to see and lavish her love upon her two grandsons, Luke and Liam. Her final contribution to society was her body to the advancement of medical science. That is why this is not a wake. Daniel will explain this process.

We miss her presence terribly and feel the emptiness within.

Healing, I believe, will come slowly and gradually with time but the scar will remain.

In the morning Chin would talk to her plants and flowers especially to her pink hibiscus. She was close to Nature.

It is Nature that has embraced her being and we will try to learn to recognise the beauty of her life reflected in the positive forces of Mother Nature.

I am the luckiest person in the world to have Lim Chin Chin as my mother - and Dave Anthony as my father.

I am also a living, breathing piece of Lim Chin Chin. As such, I will strive to be a continuation of her love in this wretched world.

I grew up with mum's mother in our house. Years after her arrest - of course I was not born yet when she was detained under the ISA , out of an abundance of caution and compassion, grandma would try to persuade Chin Chin to stop going for gatherings and meetings, telling her that she's going to end up in jail again.

That means mothers' love has been significantly present in my family and is a priceless heirloom that has been passed down. With that love came another gem from Chin Chin - her forgiveness.

Chin Chin later found it increasingly challenging to go for demonstrations. Her difficulty with walking and fading eyesight pulled her away from the front line but it did little to dampen her spirit.

In health, she was dealt a cruel hand of rotten cards. She could have thrown them down at any point of time in the past - and we all would have understood why. Yet, Chin Chin did not give up until her final card - Stage IV Lymphoma, which is what took her away from us.

It is wrong to say Chin Chin never complained. It is not to say she never felt like giving up. Her hurt and suffering was real so let us not invalidate it. She instead expressed herself to her closest friends whom she trusted. She did not bother with broadcasting her grievances. Those closest to her were the only ones who truly knew and even saw her pain and suffering. As her family members, she actually once told us that she had considered euthanasia.

Saying that someone is strong is so easy. It takes multitudes more effort to recognise someone who is humbly weak - and also to act on it. Just because the strong don't show their weaknesses does not mean that their weaknesses do not exist. We all have weaknesses. No one is perfect - and Chin Chin reminds us that we are all mortal.

All of us including you who are reading this right now, come from different walks of life and have different concepts and notions of what comes next - what comes beyond our transient presence here on earth. It is an unknown variable for all of us regardless of belief. However, we are here - present and alive. Chin Chin lives on through us, in our hearts.

I ask to cherish all the memories you have of her and with her. Everything you did with her, continue to do it even in her physical absence. Remember the joy, the pain, the ups and downs, the victories and the defeats.

Never stop thinking about Chin Chin. Never forget Chin Chin and what she brought us. Never forget the friendships she forged, the connections she made, the relationships that exist today because of her. This is the Eternal Life that is now upon us to grant unto her. I ask that we keep her name alive in conversations, whether in word of mouth or on the internet. If we are but servants of God, this is but our latest assignment.

We owe this to Chin Chin for the light and love she gave us - for that light came from a place of near darkness that she had to live in almost every day as her eyesight was fading from Renititis Pigmentosa, and the love that blossomed despite the pain that she endured as a result of Neuromyotonia and her barrage of other auto-immune diseases.

So long as we keep that light alive, I know it will continue to inspire us to persevere and never give up in our struggles.

Even as lupus, diabetes. blindness, arthritis and eventually cancer took more and more from her physically, they never broke her spirit. She continued to show up, to fight, to love and to laugh. It taught all of us that courage is found not in ease, but in endurance. Being sick did not stop her from travelling often to Melbourne, to ensure she maintained a relationship with her grandchildren. Mum attended milestone events such as their births, baptism and Christmas celebrations.

She flew AirAsia too which took strength even for a healthy person.

Now for success - mum was a self-made woman, carving out her path with grit, intelligence and resilience. She built a successful career within a technical field in the corporate world during an era where it would have been especially challenging for a woman to do so. Her hard work was motivated by her desire to provide the best for her family - and the best she did provide.

But perhaps her greatest success wasn't just in her career or her financial wisdom - it was in the way she held our family together. She was our cornerstone.

The one who made sure we stayed connected. The one who remembered birthdays, bridged differences, and made everyone feel like they belonged - Her presence grounded us. Her love united us. And her legacy will keep us close, even now.

TRIBUTES

From friends and organisations

Being a woman of faith, she always sought to question some of the ways girls and women were unfairly treated within the realm of religion. This led her and other astute women at AWAM to co-ordinate a programme and training manual on the Politicisation of Ethnicity Religion, which remains a pressing issue today.

Ultimately, Chin Chin reminds us to believe and go all in with a cause; to rise against injustice and take a stance together. May she continue to inspire generations to bring positive change to our world.

Rest in Peace and Power

In celebration of what would've been her 69th birthday, we're dedicating this month's Feminist of the Month to wife, mother, activist, feminist, and friend Lim Chin Chin. 

She told me how the authorities had repeatedly asked: “Who is Saras, and what is she doing?”

Despite the torture she endured, Chin Chin never revealed my name. She did this out of deep concern. She did not want me to be detained under the same draconian law and risk having my activism crushed.

Together, we travelled by motorbike to rural towns, meeting workers without a moment’s hesitation.

There were days when the workers failed to turn up for meetings, and I would begin to doubt our efforts.

But Chin Chin never wavered. She would always say, “We shouldn’t give up.”

I often wondered where her inner strength came from – what drove her relentless commitment to organising workers.

When I was very young, my orthodox family often tried to stop me from meeting her. Chin Chin was ethnic Chinese, and my family viewed her with suspicion, questioning why she was so involved in my life.

But our bond and shared mission in the YCW movement gave me strength to resist. From 1970 to 1980, the YCW grew into a powerful workers’ movement, organising strikes and pickets across the textile, food and machinery industries to highlight workers’ issues.

Many worker leaders were arrested by the police. Yet the movement never crumbled. Instead, it evolved, turning its focus toward community organising.

Few remember or speak of the YCW’s noble struggle today. But the seeds of resistance and solidarity that Chin Chin helped sow live on.

I became a member of your family embraced by David, your mother and you entrusted me to be the godmother of your children. There was always a place for me in PJ and together we enjoyed wonderful moments of friendship and spicy, delicious food, cooked either by David or local hawker’s centres and restaurants.

Chin Chin, you have touched many people’s lives, including mine, until the very last days we talked. Right now, I am struggling to find new ways to continue our journey together. Your legacy is with David, Daniel, Joel and your grandchildren but also with your many friends and all the memories you leave behind. You are immortal dearest Chin Chin!

But eventually she came to a point where she accepted what was happening in her body. And when she began to accept what was happening, she actually calmed down, and she became something very different.  The deeper, compassionate self, the other aspect of her life, just grew. So, for myself and a few of us who around her, we witnessed the active doer transform to just being present, being very humble, in the simplicity of her life and her laughter and to enjoy just the simple things in Life.

Chin Chin was first among equals in many ways. But let me reflect on just three:

First is the way of service. Chin was selfless in her giving. She gave her time and her life to the service of people. She did this while understanding that service alone is not sufficient, and she worked alongside her peers to challenge the structures of oppression and injustice. She did this with courage and bravery, often times leading the way.

Second is the way of clarity and steadfastness. Chin had a very clear moral compass. When we as a collective were called upon to make difficult decisions, she would be guided by the clarity of what is right and what is wrong. Firm and steadfast, she did not hesitate to call out conflicts of interest, however minor or slight, or transgressions, however unwitting. It was with this clarity that she led and lighted the path for us. In her later years, she continued to lead. I see this in AWAM’s 21st July 2025 Facebook posting that Chin Chin, compassionate, firm, yet gentle, “…. kept us in check—ensuring that good governance was not just preached but practiced.”

Third is the way of perseverance. Chin told me once—not in a self-pitying, but in a matter-of-fact way—that she never had things easy in life, that she always had to work extra hard to get what she wanted. Upon reflection, I think her self-understanding was quite accurate. Chin was always clear what her goals were and she would unceasingly struggle to achieve her goals until she succeeded. Whether in carrying on with the mundane tasks of community work, creating a family, or carving out a second career in IT after detention, Chin Chin kept faith, and worked hard, and succeeded.

In her last years, Chin faced her many health problems, one after another, with courage, fortitude, resilience, patience, grace, and even humour. I daresay that for many of us—those of us who were her friends, comrades, and fellow travellers, and who are ourselves now facing our own health problems—for us, Chin Chin again showed us the way. For having known Chin Chin and travelled alongside her, I shall always be grateful.

One thing most of us had in common was that we had been exposed to Liberation Theology.  This theology focused on the plight of the oppressed, calling on people of the Christian faith to make an Option for the Poor. Apart from discussing Liberation Theology, we were actively discussing the numerous problems in the country & in the world.  In Malaysia, Mahathir, after promising change in 1981, was becoming more authoritarian in his form of governance.  

In the global economy, we were witnessing the rise of Neoliberalism, an economic idea which deeply empowered private capital. As for workers & trade unions, they had to be suppressed to support private capital, resulting in further exploitation of labor.  

Among us Catholics, we were worried about Pope John Paul’s move to curb the spread of Liberation Theology & the implications of this on the Church. One outcome of all these issues, concurrently occurring, was a contestation between, on one hand, the state and its policies that supported private capital &, on the other hand, a society, comprising also deeply oppressed workers.

The first incident of this state-society conflict occurred in Singapore.

In May 1987, 22 people, including Catholics inspired by Liberation Theology & those associated with the Young Christian Workers movement were arrested under the ISA. The government said they were part of a ‘Marxist conspiracy’.  Lee Kuan was clear about his intent. He said he ‘wanted to nip in the bud’ this struggle for social justice. By this time, our group, Christians for Justice, was meeting regularly & most of us were part of the Support Group that was created to support the ISA detainees in Singapore. We were worried that similar arrests would occur in Malaysia. 

And yet, when it did occur later that year in October, we were shocked. Included in the arrest of over a 100 people were Chin & her close friends, Cecilia Ng, Chee Heng Leng, & Bro Anthony Rogers. As in the case of Singapore, Chin was closely associated with the Young Christian Workers movement in her young days in Ipoh. 

Chin was questioned about her ties with YCW, a movement that supported workers, helping to set up trade unions to stand up to private capital, especially foreign multinationals that were exploiting them. 

I remember well those dark days when Chin was detained. In spite of her detention, I recall Dave reading a letter from Chin to him. She was not thinking about herself, but asking Dave to watch over her mother & to take care of himself. I also recall the day she was released. The joy we felt, having her with us again.

But, she spoke little of her detention to us. 

And yet, what was most remarkable was how, in spite of her unjustified long detention, she showed no sign of being intimidated by the state. Although she was taken away from her family & from her friends, this did not break her. Although she had to endure a most harrowing experience while under detention, she was clearly still not fearful of the state. 

She seemed even more intent to continue her struggle for social justice. But, it was clear to us, her detention deeply traumatized her, something she grappled with right until the end.

I wanted, tonight, to devote some time to this period of her life. Chin was very much a part of this history of activists fighting for justice. She challenged the state, through her work in institutions like YCW, & later, through CCM, where we are now.  She was an unsung Malaysian hero.

As for the issues that brought us, this group, together, we had our own struggles. We used to meet regularly at her house, between the mid 1980s until the early 2000s. We were upset with the demise of Liberation Theology which had so inspired us. We were disturbed with the rapid ascendancy of Neoliberalism. And, Mahathir continued to govern Malaysia, in spite of the rise of a reformasi movement.

But, Chin kept telling us not to lose faith; not to give up the struggle. The members of our group have moved on – but we are all still committed to social reforms, carrying with us the lessons we learnt from those dark days of 1987 & 1988. But what we remember most was how, although it was Chin who had suffered the most, it was she who went on actively pursuing the ideas in Liberation Theology that had inspired her since the 1970s.    

Today, we celebrate this brave lady, our friend, our sister, who gave all of herself to the pursuit of social justice. 

Rest now, Chin. Your legacy to us, the way life should be lived, is a lesson we will carry with us.

After that, we went our separate ways. I understand she joined the National Office for Human Development, worked with people like father Catel, brother Anthony Rogers, and went down to many places to talk about liberation theology, social analysis, helping people to know that people are poor, not because they are lazy or stupid or don't have money. They are like that because it is the system that has put them in a marginalised position. And to get out of that cycle is not through arms struggle but through the changing of the mind and heart, just like what Jesus did. In her work with the church she would go to many small parishes.

I came from Penang this morning, and from the bus on the Highway, I saw the signs Kampar Bidor, Rawang, and I remember that she must have gone to many of these places, small towns, big towns, to share Christ with them.

I was teaching in Seremban. Sometimes she will drop by and stay overnight. I was staying in my uncle’s house. We had some rooms, and she will stay there, and we will share about our work, and especially her work. I like to listen to her stories, what she was doing at the time.

She will stay with me, I think because the parish priest in Seremban would not know what to do with a 20 year old woman. He can't put her in the parish house, you know. I suppose it must have been quite difficult for her at the time when she travelled to these towns to give sessions, she probably would have to stay with friends or parishioners. Yeah, very much like what we hear in the scriptures. Whichever town or place you enter, stay there and eat whatever they give you. You know she shared that spirit.

So it came as a shock one day when I opened the newspapers and saw that she was detained under the ISA. I was teaching in Taiping at that time, we are so near and yet so far. Didn’t know what to do, scared. Eventually, I decided to send her a Bible. I don't think she ever got it. 

So, we continued to meet up after she was released, and talk about work and talk about her children, talk about Dave building a tree house for the children. it came out in the papers. I think she was so proud, yeah, of the two children, especially when Daniel worked in Malaysiakini and the books that Dave wrote.

Coming down alone in a bus. I'm glad I did it. It offered me time to reminisce about what our life, our friendship, our being together since our school days, and listening to how she has inspired so many of you all. I'm very privileged to have known her just like I knew the part of her life before you met her. Now I know the part of her life where you met her so it's complete. I'm glad. I'm glad I'm blessed. So, what I want to say to you Theresa, that's what we call her Theresa, is what we hear in Matthew 25:23, Welcome, my good and faithful servant. Enter into your master's joy.

I loved the way she challenged things, and as everyone has shared, she was very true to her principles, and that's what I wanted to learn from her.  I can't remember so many of the things that we've exchanged because we worked so hard together in those six, seven years, seeing each other probably every week for the women's movement. But, one of the things I'd like to share that I remember very clearly was during one of our lunches. I was talking to her about the problem I had at work. My boss was threatening me with insubordination. And I was quite concerned about it, quite upset about it, and I was telling her about it, and I said, chin, you know, she's saying that I've got issues with authority. Do I have issues with authority? And her reply was, what's wrong with having issues with authority? That made me feel very vindicated. I guess that's our duty as activists to challenge authority. That made it okay. I just want to share that I really cherish her like all the women here.

Operation Lalang, “Operation Weeding” was a major crackdown undertaken by the Police from 27 October to 20 November 1987, purportedly to prevent the occurrence of race riots in Malaysia. The operation saw the arrest of 106 to 119 people ~ political activists, opposition politicians, intellectuals, students, artists, scientists and others  ~ It also saw the revoking of the publishing licenses of two dailies, The Star and the Sin Chew Jit Poh and two weeklies, The Sunday Star and Watan.               

Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad claimed the decision for the operation was taken by the police, and that he, as the Minister of Home Affairs, had to go along with it. But civil society recognised that the operation was executed to control the political opponents of Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad. Operasi Lalang was followed by the 1988 Malaysian constitutional crisis the following year.

These were dark days for activism, we lived in fear that any one of us could be taken away in the middle of the night. But we found courage even as we felt fear to carry on. Looking around the room on Friday evening where around 150 people gathered to celebrate Chin Chin’s life, I saw the familiar faces of activists and I remembered with pride that we stood up to authoritarian rule.   

Thank you Chin Chin for inspiring me to be an activist who worked not only for women’s rights but for social and political reform.

MESSAGES

From Chin Chin's Yoga Classmates

So, it became a centre where we just supported very quietly, we cared for each other. And it was really beautiful. It was just not a centre where we were doing things, but we were doing acts of love and kindness. And that is what she always does, being very silent, and she just moves in, and she continues to be an inspiration. And today, as I have always told her, I have a deep respect for her, and she has always been an inspiration. And she used to say, what inspiration? What am I doing? You know, but it was just being herself, her true self. And that was really beautiful, from her action of the doer to just being there radiating the total fullness of her life.

RAMA & POH YUK
ALIRAN

My dear Dave, terribly sorry to hear of Theresa Lim Chin Chin’s passing. She was a great soul - a fighter for the just cause! Mahathir could not quell her spirit! She was a credit to ALIRAN! Please accept our deepest sympathies and sincere condolences.

She has earned her rest. Please stay strong - that’s what Theresa would expect of you! Take care my dear friend. 

MESSAGES

From Aliran Members

MESSAGES

From SMI Scouts